English Retaliation and the Fall of Moncontour…

English Retaliation and the Fall of Moncontour (1371)

Following the successful French offensives of 1371, in which Bertrand du Guesclin and Olivier de Clisson reclaimed territories in Guyenne, Poitou, Saintonge, and Anjou, the English launched a counterattack. Their target was Moncontour, a Breton stronghold strategically located in Poitou, which controlled key trade routes and military access points in the region.

The Siege and Fall of Moncontour

• The English organized an expedition to strike back at French gains, choosing Moncontour as a key objectivedue to its fortifications and strategic value.
• After a ten-day siege, the fortress fell, marking one of the few English successes in this phase of the war.
• The speed of the siege’s success suggests that the garrison was either underprepared or outnumbered, likely due to French forces being spread across multiple fronts.

Impact of the Fall of Moncontour

• The English recapture of Moncontour served as a symbolic counterstrike against the French reconquest of Poitou and Saintonge.
• However, despite this victory, the broader momentum of the war still favored France, as Charles V’s strategy of attrition and targeted offensives continued to erode English control in France.
• The loss of Moncontour did not halt the French advance, but it reminded Charles V that the English remained capable of strategic counterattacks.

The fall of Moncontour (1371) was one of England’s few successes in an otherwise difficult phase of the war, but it did not reverse the overall decline of English holdings in France.